The Lost Gardens of Heligan

About The Lost Gardens of Heligan

The Tremayne family bought the Heligan estate in the 16th century, and successive squires developed its gardens from the mid 18th century into the early 20th century. After the First World War the gardens slipped into neglect and were largely lost from view.

Restoration began in the 1990s, led by Tim Smit and John Willis, and the gardens are now leased from the Tremayne family. The result is part historic garden, part working estate, with Victorian growing methods kept alive alongside wilder woodland and valley planting.

What to see

• Productive Gardens: walled flower and vegetable gardens, glasshouses and a pineapple pit warmed by rotting manure.
• The Jungle: a wild valley of subtropical tree ferns and other exotic plants.
• Pleasure Grounds: the Italian Garden and old plantings of rhododendrons and camellias.
• Woodland sculptures: the Mud Maid and the Giant's Head, made from rock, earth and plants.
• Lakes and farmland: ponds fed by a ram pump over a century old, and grazing livestock.

Planning your visit

Heligan is about 1.5 miles from Mevagissey. The main car park has limited free spaces, with paid parking on a neighbouring overflow field. Allow at least four hours. Around 13 of the estate's 200 acres have even paths, including the Productive Gardens and Pleasure Grounds, and carers go free. Autumn and winter hours are 10am to 5pm, with a later close in spring and summer; visitors arriving after last admission are not let in, so check the opening calendar before you set off. Heligan runs a reduced Universal Credit and Pension Credit ticket, and a separate Night Garden event on selected evenings.